Bibi: If anyone attacks us, we’ll even the score
Netanyahu vow as fears rise that Tehran is plotting a revenge blitz
BENJAMIN Netanyahu yesterday warned that Israel would ‘harm whoever harms us’ as the country braced for an armed confrontation with Iran.
As American intelligence suggested the Tehran regime was planning a ‘significant attack’, there were fears the Middle East crisis could trigger a global conflict.
Iran has vowed revenge following the Israeli defence force’s strike on its embassy in Syria last month, which killed a leading general.
Posing by F-15 fighter jets yesterday, the Israeli prime minister said: ‘Whoever harms us, we will harm them.
‘We are prepared to meet all of the security needs of the State of Israel, both defensively and offensively.’
Britain’s Defence Secretary Grant Shapps said: ‘We want Iran to think very carefully before they act.
‘There must be no threat of miscommunication. Any attack on Israel by Iran would represent a serious miscalculation by Iran.’
It came as Israel claimed to have unearthed proof of Tehran’s funding of Hamas. Correspondence it said it discovered in Gaza appears to detail payments worth £175 million, The Times reported. The documents reveal monthly payments totalling $154 million between 2014 and 2020, and $58 million transferred in 2021.
Iran has thus far avoided a direct confrontation following the October 7 attack, instead using its proxies in Gaza, Lebanon, yemen and Iraq to attack Israel.
But there are fears the Israeli strike in Damascus on April 1 that killed a top Iranian general and six other officers has ratcheted up tension to dangerous levels.
Israel has not claimed responsibility, but Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Wednesday Israel ‘must be punished and it shall be’.
The IDF also killed three sons of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh on Wednesday adding to the instability. The Tehran dictatorship has more firepower than Israel and has the capacity to overwhelm its Iron Dome missile defence system with cruise missiles, ballistic missiles and drones.
US President Joe Biden promised Israel ‘iron-clad support’.
The Israeli air force also conducted joint exercises with Cyprus to ‘simulate an attack in Iran’ in response.
rishi Sunak branded Iran’s threats ‘unacceptable’ adding: ‘We, like the Americans, fully support Israel’s right to defend itself against that.’ It came as
‘It would be a serious miscalculation’
‘Iron-clad support’
footage showed the moment Hamas leader Haniyeh was told his sons and some of his grandchildren were killed by the IDF.
The terror kingpin, who has 13 sons and daughters, later said: ‘My sons were awarded this honour. They remained with our Palestinian people in Gaza, did not leave and did not run. The blood of my sons is not dearer than the blood of our people.’
relatives of hostages fear the killings could disrupt ceasefire negotiations with Hamas.
But Haniyeh insisted that the death of three of his sons, Amir, Mohammad and Hazem Haniyeh, would not influence truce talks.